First Facebook harassment trial in the UK

The first prosecution in the UK for harassment on Facebook will take place this month.

A Birmingham man is charged with harassing his ex-girlfriend via the social networking site.

Michael Hurst allegedly harassed Sophie Sladden via the site on 21 January. He pleaded not guilty in Birmingham Magistrates Court and was granted bail. Hurst will stand trial later this month.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “We have prosecuted harassment cases before where people have sent letters, made phone calls and even text messages in recent years, but to my knowledge this is the first case where a website like Facebook has been involved.”